Akrem A. Abdulsid
TLR Expression in the Placenta during
Labour and Pre-eclampsia
Background
Akrem Abdulsid, Alexander Fletcher and Fiona Lyall.
School of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
Results
Results 1:
TLR9 and 10 were detected but at very low levels in the human placenta (not shown).
The mechanisms that are involved in maintaining a human pregnancy to term, and the switches that lead to a normal labour and pregnancy outcome or indeed an adverse outcome such as miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction or preterm labour, are complex but the role of the placenta is crucial to them all. TLR family members are expressed differentially in a variety of cells and tissues. Tolllike receptors (TLR) are the principal signalling molecules through which mammals’ sense infection, so called innate immunity.
Aim
The first aim of this study was to examine the spatial expression of TLR in placentas. The second aim was to determine the expression of TLRs in normal pregnancy and pre-eclampsia.
Methods
Patients and Methods:1
Samples were obtained from 12 sites within each placenta: 4 equally spaced apart pieces were sampled from inner, middle and outer zones from the cord insertion point. Non-labour, labour, PE and non-labour
PE were studied (n=6 per group). Patients were matched for gestational age
Fig. 1
.
Results 2
: TLRs 1-8 were all expressed in the placenta but there was no significant difference between the three zones
(inner, middle and outer). Three examples (TLR 4,5 and 6) are shown in
Fig 2
.
Fig 2 : Real time PCR analysis for 6 placentas in different zones of TLR4, 5 and
6. RQ values are shown as median and median deviation
Results 3
: At the middle zone TLR5 expression was significant decrease in the labour group compared to nonlabour group (p=0.004).
Results
Results 4:
At the inner and middle zones there was a significant decrease in TLR1 expression in the labour preeclampsia group compared to the labour control group
(p=0.04, p=0.002).
Fig 4 : Combined analysis of TLR1 expression in control-labour and preeclampsia-labour groups.
Results 4 (cont
): Next all labour and non-labour were combined. At the inner and middle zones there was a significant decrease in TLR1 expression in the preeclampsia group compared to the normal pregnancy
(p=0.04, p=0.002).
Fig 1 : picture of sampling methods
Patients and Methods:2
TLRs gene expression was investigated by qRT-PCR using validated TagMan® Gene Expression assay.
Fig 3 : : Combined analysis of TLR 5 expression in inner, middle and outer zones
Publication
1.
Heat shock protein 27 expression is spatially distributed in human placenta and selectively regulated during preeclampsia.
Journal of Reproductive Immunology
2.
Heat shock protein 27 is spatially distributed in the human placenta and decreased during labor.
PLoS ONE ,
3.
Heat shock protein 70 expression is spatially distributed in human placenta and selectively upregulated during labor and preeclampsia. PloS ONE..
Fig 5 : Real time PCR analysis for the same samples
Results 5:
No other differences were found in TLR gene expression.
Conclusion
TLRs may play a role in the physiology of labour and the pathology of pre-eclampsia.
